We chat with the guys from legendary Brit TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway…? (they’ll be in town this July!) and find that they’re a riot, even when they’re off the stage.
Have you guys always wanted to be comedians?
Ian Coppinger: I always wanted to be an astronaut but as I grew up and realized that Ireland’s space programme involved a catapult, I soon changed my mind. Comedy seemed a natural progression.
Andy Smart: No, I wanted to be a coastguard as a boy.
Stephen Frost: No, I wanted to be a Formula 1 racing driver but I’m alright neeeooooooooow!
Steve Steen: No, I always wanted to be a footballer, but my style of playing made people laugh.
Are there days on which you find it particularly difficult to be funny?
Ian: Some days you are just not in the humor to be funny, and I’m sure everyone can appreciate that, but that all changes as soon as the show starts. Then I just forget everything and have a great laugh.
Andy: The third Thursday of every month!
Stephen: Only when I’m asleep and even then I’m told I’m quite amusing.
Steve: Days when I have to pay income tax.
Tell us some of your favorite jokes.
Ian: A salesman knocks on a door which is opened by a 7-year-old boy. He is wearing a smoking jacket, smoking a cigar and drinking a large brandy. The salesman asks, “are your parents home?” and the boy says “does it f**king look like my parents are home?”
Andy: What’s the difference between the 69 position and hang gliding? The view.
Steve: Two Snowmen are in a park. One says to the other, “Can you smell carrots?”
Where do you guys get comedic inspiration from?
Ian: Over the years, I’ve seen many funny people from Monty Python, Spike Milligan to Dylan Moran and Milton Jones. What inspires me now are just things that I find funny.
Andy: Old films by the Marx Brothers, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Bill Hicks, Greg Proops, Sean Lock.
Stephen: Through total lack of any other kind of job.
Steve: I get mine from watching Steve Frost onstage—his stagecraft and comedic timing are legendary, as are his rubber features, mime skills and general physical interpretation.
What’s the secret to improv—how do you guys come up with funny things to say so fast?!
Ian: Listen and don’t think—that’s all you need to know. We are big talkers and when we are at the bar we just talk and talk, so it’s just a joy for us to be paid to do that on the stage.
Andy: We spend a lot of time together and we know each other’s strengths. But really it’s all about listening very carefully to what someone is saying and then saying the first thing that comes into your head.
Stephen: Completely empty brain before you go on, listen, agree and add, get off when it’s not working.
Steve: I have no idea. When you find out the secret of improv, please let us know!
You guys have been performing for years now. What’s your most memorable show so far?
Ian: In Dublin, we did a show with six of us, including Richard Vranch and Phil Jupitus. We ended up doing a human pyramid. It was amazing.
Andy: There was one, five years ago now, on the grounds of a burnt out cathedral in Leeds. The stage was marked out by straw bales, and it was raining. The radio mikes we were using broke after five minutes so we had to shout. I don’t know whether the audience felt sorry for us, or if they were just willing us to do a good show, but something magical happened that night. We flew. Frosty pulled some straw out at one point and used it as hair to play a young girl, then as a moustache to play her father and then as a bow tie to play a lawyer, then all of them started talking to one another at the same time. It was brilliant.
Stephen: We’ve just done the Kilkenny festival in Ireland. Back room of a pub, great audience suggestions, brilliant Irish performers and copious amounts of Guiness. Magic.
Steve: Difficult to say as we are getting so old. I can barely remember the other guys’ names!
Are you guys the best of friends outside of the show?
Ian: Months can go by when we don’t speak to each other or have any communication at all, but once we are together we just make one another laugh all the time. We are good mates.
Andy: Yes.
Stephen: Some more than others, they know who they are.
Steve: Which guys?
You guys will be performing in Singapore for the second year running. How was the audience reception like for your first show here last year?
Ian: The Singapore audience last year was really fantastic. They were really up for the shows and shouted some great suggestions. It’s really important that we get a good audience as they are really a big part of the show. I fully expect the same from this year’s audience.
Andy: It was great last year. Well except for when I tripped and barked my shins on the edge of the stage. I’ve still got the scars, I had to go to hospital and get stitched up after the show, which was a laugh.
Stephen: We had a great time when we were last here. The audience was very lively and receptive. Really looking forward to finishing the shows without any serious injuries!
Steve: Singapore will always have a special place in my heart after last year when we performed for an audience of mostly Singaporeans. They loved the show and we loved them. If you know who they were, can you ask them to come back this year? They were great!
Catch Whose Line is it Anyway…? at the DBS Arts Centre from July 2-5, 8,30pm. Get your tickets here.
